1. Field
The present invention relates generally to providing resources for computing. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for packaging computing and associated components for space efficiency and/or fire resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
A data center typically includes a group of computing devices at a common physical location. Data centers are often housed in conventional building structures and use air conditioning systems to remove heat generated by electronic components (chips, hard drives, cards, etc.)
Many commercially-available servers used in data centers are designed for air cooling. Such servers usually comprise one or more printed circuit boards having a plurality of electrically coupled devices mounted thereto. These printed circuit boards are commonly housed in an enclosure having vents that allow external air to flow into the enclosure, as well as out of the enclosure after being routed through the enclosure for cooling purposes. In many instances, one or more fans are located within the enclosure to facilitate this airflow.
Data centers housing such servers and racks of servers typically distribute air among the servers using a centralized fan (or blower). As more fully described below, air within the data center usually passes through a heat exchanger for cooling the air (e.g., an evaporator of a vapor-compression cycle refrigeration cooling system (or “vapor-cycle” refrigeration), or a chilled water coil) before entering a server. In some data centers, the heat exchanger has been mounted to the rack to provide “rack-level” cooling of air before the air enters a server. In other data centers, the air is cooled before entering the data center.
In general, electronic components of higher performing servers dissipate correspondingly more power. However, power dissipation for each of the various hardware components (e.g., chips, hard drives, cards) within a server can be constrained by the power being dissipated by adjacent heating generating components, the airflow speed and airflow path through the server and the packaging of each respective component, as well as a maximum allowable operating temperature of the respective component and a temperature of the cooling air entering the server as from a data center housing the server. The temperature of an air stream entering the server from the data center, in turn, can be influenced by the power dissipation and proximity of adjacent servers, the airflow speed and the airflow path through a region surrounding the server, as well as the temperature of the air entering the data center (or, conversely, the rate at which heat is being extracted from the air within the data center).
It requires a substantial amount of space to house data centers in conventional buildings. In addition, servers deployed in buildings may not portable and may be expensive, as energy costs and power dissipation continue to increase. Air cooling of a data center is also space intensive, because the efficiency of cooling is affected by the proximity of electronic components.
Electrical or other ignition sources sometimes cause fires in data centers. Data center fires can be quite costly events, since a fire can easily and quickly spread to damage numerous pieces of expensive equipment packed into a small area. The oils used to cool servers will catch fire under certain conditions. In some cases, a fire can spread not only in oil in tanks holding rack-mounted servers, but also to oil spilled in around the racks during installation or maintenance.